Pages

To Subscribe: Email request to dlw@gracepointcounseling.org

Third Quarter
TGP Volume 14
(July/August/September 2014)

 Week 39

Pleading with God: A Failed Plan for Relief from Problems

You can plead with God to remove sickness or financial troubles from your life, but you will be disappointed. That's because God does not remove problems from our lives on the basis of our pleading.

For example you can plead all day every day with God to remove the darkness from the room you are in - even with

  • bitter tears of repentance,
  • sincerity,
  • fasting,
  • thinking positive (word of “faith”), and
  • sending gifts to the church, religious tv, or the homeless, 
but the darkness will remain.

Or you can take time to open the windows of the room so that the light can enter.

God has a plan for our recovery: It is for us to include in our lives his Provisions - against which no problem can prevail.

“How certain and unfailing will they reign in life who receive God’s abundant provisions of grace and of the gift of his righteousness (his Life).” – paraphrased from Romans 5:17

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I26

Recovering Us From the Ruin of Our Wrong Choices: God’s Redemptive Plan for His Provisions

Of course God delights, as a Loving Father would, for his children to enjoy

  • the taste and aroma of food,
  • the beauty of a sunrise or sunset,
  • the smell of flowers,
  • the sound of nature or of music,
  • the joy of giving and helping,
  • the feel of a hug, and
  • the experience of romance. 
But he provides nothing to us for the purpose alone of making us feel good or of superficially relieving our pain.

That means, God did not provide food or music or romance for the purpose alone (or even mostly) so that we could enjoy or be entertained by an emotional or sensual experience.     

Rather, everything God provides is to meet the redemptive needs of mankind – to recover us from the ruin of the wrong choices we and our ancestors made in the darkness while separated from him which left us with unmet needs.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I23

 Week 38

Missed Childhood Needs: How Children Become Broken Parents

 Children misbehave when their essential inborn needs are not met timely and appropriately by their parents (for cellular nutrition, information, affection, and decision-making support).

And parents fail to meet those needs when, in their own childhood, their parenting needs were missed - leaving them as parents

  • broken, irritated, disillusioned, wornout, and ill-prepared for investing in their children’s health and
  • often resorting to meanness and “whippings” in an attempt to control the misbehavior of their hurting children. 
Worst of all, their children will be left unable in the future to meet the health and happiness needs of their children.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I19

Experiencing Christ: Hope for Health and Happiness in the Home

The NFL is scrambling to address the domestic abuse issues that have surfaced recently among its players. One attempt is to hire behavioral consultants to help develop new policies which players must sign off on. But efforts to control behavior are not really the answer; at best, they will only be a Band-Aid. The problem runs deeper than a lack of rules. So wives and children will remain at risk.

Neither is religion the answer. That includes both

  • the rules-driven, legalistic, traditional church and
  • the excitement and relationship-driven contemporary church. 
Only Christ, his Life birthed and renewed in husbands and parents (during quiet-time worship) to purge from them the inborn brokenness at the root of abuse, is effectual to support health and happiness in the home.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I12   

 Week 37

Set Free by Truth: Understanding the Meaning of Bible Words

I cringe to hear someone say, “I could care less” when they mean “I couldn’t care less” or “can’t hardly” when they mean “can hardly” or (as recently) “I will stop at anything to get the job done” when they mean “I won’t stop at anything.” But maybe that’s just me!

Words mean something, the same as numbers do. Favorite old joke: The guy said “2 plus 2 equals 5 – that is, unless he was wrong.” Well, he was wrong. And wrong can have serious consequences. If the surgeon doesn’t know left from right, he may remove the wrong kidney.

(Also, the meaning of a word can change. Think about what the word “gay” meant 50 years ago. I remember my mom introducing a childhood playmate as one of my little boyfriends.)   

I cringe most when Bible words are misunderstood. If you say to me I will meet you on the Sabbath and by that you mean Sunday, I am going to show up on Saturday and miss seeing you.

That’s not an example of the worst, although there is a critical theological reason why Christians no longer observe the Jewish Sabbath. But there are Bible/theological words that, when their meanings are misunderstood, support for understanding Truth is lost.

There are at least 50 words I have identified that are absolutely critical for understanding the “message of grace in all its truth” (Colossians 1:6), including Grace, Worship, Glorify, Believe, Repentance, Love, Forgiveness, Knowledge, and Sin. In my early ministry, I thought I understood the meaning of these words, but after years of intense word study… well, I learned 2 and 2 do not equal 5. When my understanding of these words changed, so did my theology. And so did my life - which is the great evidence of whether or not we embrace Truth. (“Thanks be to God that, though you once were in bondage to your sin nature, you wholeheartedly embraced the message of grace we taught you so that now you have been set free from your bondage and have become enabled for righteousness.” - Romans 6:16-17)

That’s because “Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

“You have been bearing fruit and growing since the day you heard and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” - Colossians 1:6

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I13

 Health and Happiness: The Validation of Our Wise Choices

I grieved to hear the well known counselor say on a recent radio broadcast (heard on 900 radio stations) that the number of our days on earth were ordained (fixed) by God before we were born and that sickness comes into our lives for the following reasons: To give us opportunity to

  • practice trusting that God is sovereign and good and will always do right,
  • repent of “sins” (either commissions of evil that displease God or omissions of religious works that please him),
  • be toughened (“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!”),
  • become more appreciative of our better days, and
  • gain credibility with others for our godliness and qualification for ministry.
What!? Gain credibility with others for our godliness and qualification for ministry!? But isn't that the same as saying being broke qualifies us for giving financial advice or that obesity, high blood pressure, and shortness of breath qualifies us for giving health advice?

This view, of course, misses the fact that our illnesses are the result of the choices we make which disregard God’s faithful provisions of grace in Creation (elements in the soil and atmosphere), Community (leadership support in the home and church), and especially Christ (his Blood/Death and Resurrected Life).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I09

Week 36 

We welcome the opportunity each day to work – to go and give, but we welcome most the opportunity God gives us to come and receive his provisions so that we have enablement for the going and giving in the performance of our duties.

That’s why we take care when we wake up in the morning for our first thoughts to be consumed, not with planning our day, but with

  • God, his faithful love and tender care for us and
  • our brokenness and need for him - his enablement.
Our human nature, the demonic world, and even religion will call us at the outset of our day to think about strategies for meeting the challenges of our work. The Holy Spirit, however, will call us to set those concerns aside momentarily in order to open our hearts to God to receive from him in quiet-time worship the flow of his Life into our inner being.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I05

Experiencing Christ: The Foundation of Our Hope for Health and Happiness

Your desire for education, for success in your vocation, and to have influence in the world is worthwhile, but if your pursuit of them surpasses your desire to experience Christ, you will, in time, be disappointed with your life.

Your desire to serve your community and to help hurting people is noble, but if your occupation with them transcends your desire to experience Christ, the result of your efforts will, in time, be disappointing to you.

Also, if your desire for a happy home and marriage transcends your desire to experience Christ, your home and marriage will never be the Heaven on Earth you hope for.

Our experience of Christ is the foundation of our hope for health and happiness. That’s why God calls us to quiet-time worship, to be filled to a fuller measure of Christ each day - so that we can be renewed and made whole by the flow of his presence into our lives.

“Christ living in you, your hope of experiencing Heaven on Earth” is included in the meaning of Colossians 1:27.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14I02

 Week 35

Experiencing Christ: The Enduring Enablement for Making Wise Choices

 1) We make choices for our lives each day motivated by

  • fear 
(I am told horses run in a race, not because they have a desire to run or to win, but because of fear – that is, by the need to outrun in order to survive.)

  • guilt
  • pride (in order to be in control or powerful or prominent)
  • anger
  • hate
  • desire/hunger (sometimes addiction) for experiences that feel-good, taste-good, entertain, or otherwise relieve pain. 
2) But the purest, most enduring motivation for making the best choices is the heart of Christ (his values/passion) in us for

  • God/his Provisions
  • our redemptive needs, and
  • the redemptive needs of others.
3) The heart of Christ is renewed and increased in us each day during our quiet-time worship to experience his presence more fully.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H29

Emotional, Esthetic, and Entertaining Experiences Exceeded by Essential Elements to Ensure Enduring Health

The essential elements which best support health typically do not have sensual or recreational appeal – that is, they do not taste, smell, look, or feel good, especially at first (and maybe never).

For some people, beets and broccoli would be an easy example. Also, some people don’t like the taste of water.

So if we make choices for food (or for other experiences) only because of their “wow” factor, our health and happiness will be in trouble.

God did good to create us with the capacity to enjoy emotional, esthetic, and entertaining experiences. Otherwise, life would be boring. But he did best when he provided essential elements in the soil and atmosphere, the home and church, and especially Christ (his Blood and his Life) which ensure optimal, long-term health.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H26

 Week 34

Scripture and Songs for Quiet Time Worship


I have written? 

No! Actually, God is the author of song (both lyrics and melody), the same as he authors other expressions, including writing and speaking, maybe also drama and art - especially when text is included - to communicate his message. This means, we are only the human instruments/vessels he calls, prepares, and uses. Otherwise, the message will not be effectual (have no eternal value) to accomplish his redemptive purpose.

FOR PRIVATE QUIET-TIME WORSHIP 

Quiet Time Songs is not intended for easy listening, group singing, special music, or even singing aloud, but for hearing/reading the lyrics in your mind, quietly accompanied by the melody during private/personal quiet-time worship.

I recommend these songs to counselees as a part of the PLAN (Pain, Problem, Provisions, and Plan) to support their growth in grace (which is their greatest need) – with the following instructions:

  • Discern if God is calling (drawing) you to worship (experience him). Worship will be impossible without this calling ("No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” – John 6:44).
  • Set aside 30 minutes of quiet time for this experience. IT IS BEST TO WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE THIS TIME. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HURRY YOUR EXPERIENCE OF GOD (WORSHIP). 
  • View/Listen to the video with expectancy that the Holy Spirit will communicate to you Truth to support your experience of Christ.
  • Quiet Time Songs is not a substitute for your regular quiet time in the morning for reading the Scripture (the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs) in order to hear and experience Christ, but can be an addendum or for an additional quiet time in the evening.
Email me (dlw@gracepointcounseling.org) if you have a question or need clarification.

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H22

God’s Provisions of Grace: Shutting the Door to Depression

Humans are born with default/inborn needs –

  • biologically for nutrition,
  • psychologically for information, affection, and support for decision-making, and
  • spiritually for experiencing God (our most intense need for which nothing else can be a substitute). 
These needs must be met or we suffer pain.

If we make choices to deal with the pain (including for food, entertainment, or even religious service) which disregard God’s provisions to meet our needs, the results will be deeply disappointing.

That’s because,

  • the relief those choices offer is superficial and only temporary,
  • we build tolerance to them – they have failing/diminishing returns, and
  • the problem of the unmet needs worsens (because it is not attended to). 
This deep disappointment (with experiences that no longer ease the pain of unmet needs) is at the core of depression.

The deep darkness of depression can be hormonally or chemically related, but at the core, it is the result of unmet health and happiness needs - needs for which God has made provisions: biologically in creation (nutrition), psychologically in community (support relationships in the home and church), and spiritually through Christ.

God is faithful, his Promises are true, and his Provisions are powerful to shut the door to depression.

"How certain and unfailing will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!" - Romans 5:17

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H19

Week 33

 Why Children, Wives, and Church Members Hurt

The question I ask in counseling to parents, husbands, and pastors is: “Is your desire more for you to be happy, or for those you serve to be healthy?”

It’s a loaded question!

The fact is, although we may have a desire to invest in the health needs of our children, wives, and church members, we aren’t able to.  

That’s because of our fallen human nature.

Even the enablement Christ gives us in our quiet time worship (to be renewed in his likeness) is quickly used up like a fuel.

That’s why our counseling is passionate to support leadership in the home and church to take time DAILY for quiet-time worship. Otherwise, it will be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for them

  • not to be consumed with their own self-serving happiness needs (to be users) rather than
  • to care for the health needs of those they are called to serve (to be investors). 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H15

To God, It’s About YOU

We take care in our counseling and teaching to separate the meanings of worship and praise. Worship is the act of opening our hearts to receive the flow of Christ’s Life

  • from his residence within our spirit (if we have been born again)
  • into our hearts (the soul) for the healing and renewal of our minds, emotions, and wills - with the side (psychosomatic) effect of support for physical health. 
Praise is commending our experience of God to others. This means, of course, that we must experience God in order to praise him.

Worship is also receiving God’s Provisions for life which flow from his Resources in Creation (soil and atmosphere) and Community (support leadership in the home and Church). Drinking water illustrates worship. So does connecting to leadership in the home and Church to receive support for learning how to experience God.

(I am not sure what to make of the typical “praise and worship” service of the contemporary church. Some of it may be motivated by the same sensual need that can be met at a rock concert. Others may be stroking God, fawning over him because they think he deserves it, needs it, or in order to win his favor so that maybe he will give them a blessing, or at least in order to stay out of trouble with him. Dictators feed on this attention, so do entertainers, but I suspect God is grieved by it.)

God’s purpose for praise is for pointing the lost and the hurting to him.

God’s purpose for us to worship him is not in order to enhance his own experience or existence, maybe like, for example, when

  • parents have children (or pets) because of how much they enjoy them (for how cuddly and sweet they are), or
  • ministers serve others because of their need to feel useful or appreciated, or even powerful. 
Rather, his purpose for worship is for our increase – how we are served and supported by our experience of him.

To God, it’s about YOU (your redemptive needs). (God does not have any physical needs or unmet affection or acceptance needs for us to attend to.)

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H12

 Week 32

The New Testament Model for Grace Leadership in the Home and Church

The religious paradigm for our relationship to God places God is a power position over us. He is ruler. He owns us. We are slaves who serve his needs.

The grace model (“the message of grace in all its truth” – Colossians 1:6 NIV) places Christ (under whose feet God has placed all things [Ephesians 1:20-23], nonetheless, paradoxically)  in  a  support  position  beneath  us  as  our  Vine,  Husband,  Shepherd, Gardener, Fountainhead, and Great Physician.

This means, we

  • are free vessels (not owned slaves or hired workers) who are called (given opportunity) by the Holy Spirit to
  • voluntarily, after much thought, give ourselves to Christ with the promise and confident expectation we
  • will be valued, protected, equipped, and made competent and useful (2 Corinthians 3:6) as parents, husbands, pastors, and church leaders in redemptive service to those who have given themselves to us in the same manner and for the same purpose. 
Again, the model that serves in the New Testament Scripture to illustrate/teach the relationship of husbands to their wives, parents to their children, and pastors to the Church isnot the Old Testament religious model of God as a king over his lowly subjects, demanding, imposing, legislating, and expecting compliance to his edicts, but the grace model of Christ’s support relationship to his elevated Bride, the Church, investing in us (sowing, cultivating, and watering as by a gardener) to support us for living out our calling to support, in turn, the redemptive needs of those we serve.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H08

Two Separate Salvations: Understanding the Message of Grace

With regard to us going to Heaven (eternal salvation), the message of grace is

  1. Christ, by his death/Blood on the cross, paid in full God’s judgment against the human race (eternal separation from him because of Adam’s transgression),
  2. God, as a result of our faith to trust in this provision/to receive this Gift,
    • removes his judgment against us (forgiveness),
    • declares us innocent (justification), and
    • imparts his Life into our spirits (regeneration/the new birth), and that
  3. this work of grace to ensure our going to Heaven is a ONE-TIME EVENT. 
With regard to us being healed of our brokenness and made holy/useful in redemptive service to others (sanctification), the message of grace is 

  1. Christ imparts his Life into our hearts (the soul: mind, emotions, and will)
  2. WHEN we take time each day for quiet-time worship to open the door of our hearts to receive into our minds, emotions, and wills the flow of his Life (the Water of Life) emanating like a fountain/wellspring from within our spirits, and that
  3. this work of grace to enable our lives on earth is an Ongoing/Daily Process.
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H05

 Week 31

Seeking Relationship with God. Why?

We’re sometimes asked the question, “Do you want God, or do you just want something from him?”

It is an age-old, guilt, fear, and pride loaded question that is supposed to challenge our motives for seeking a relationship with God.

The religious answer, of course, is “I just want God.” That’s because we think it says something about our piety, also our affection and appreciation for God – that, He is God, our Lord and Master, Creator of the World, Sovereign and Holy. (We are just his lowly servants. He owns us.) Also, he deserves it (and has a high need/expectation for us to let him know it, especially in our praise and worship at church - otherwise, he pouts and withholds “blessings”).

But it’s a silly answer (the same as to say I seek water, not because of what it does for me, but because of my admiration for water) that comes from a misunderstanding of the reason God (Christ, the Living Water) is in relationship to us in the first place – that it is not so he will have someone to want him (or for any other reason that attends to his personal, feel-good needs [He doesn’t have any!]), but in order to provide us support to recover us from our brokenness.

Whatever we understand about this concept, it will manifest in our parenting (and in our relationship to anyone else to whom we are a resource) – that is, we will view our relationship to our children either for how they are served or how we are served.

It will also manifest in our relationship to those who are a resource to us (including parents, husbands, and pastors) – that is, we will view them either

  • in a power (organizational) position over us having expectations for us to meet their needs, or
  • in a support (organic) position beneath us, committed to our health and happiness 
So, absolutely, we seek God because of something we want/need from him.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14H01

Wet: The Essential Expression of Water

God’s first goal for you is not happiness (not even in your marriage) but the recovery of your personal health. (If we seek happiness more than health, we risk losing both.) That’s because, our experience of happiness (not the same as having fun) is the essential expression of wholistic health - like wet expresses water.

God is a Perfect Father and desires for his children to be both healthy and happy –

  • biologically,
  • mentally and emotionally,
  • relationally (especially in our homes and marriages),
  • vocationally, and
  • financially. 
We know this about God because he has made available to us every possible provision for us to experience his best (Romans 5:17; James 1:17).

But the health and happiness we seek begins with our experience of Christ - “to be filled each day to a fuller measure of Christ” (Ephesians 3:19; 4:13) who is our "Daily Bread" (Matthew 6:11; John 4:10; 6:35).

That’s because, the Power (dynamic) that produces health and happiness in us flows outward from deep within us (like a seed sprouts and grows from within the soil, or like water flows from deep within a well) – that is,

  • from the innermost chamber of our beings, our spirits (where the Spirit of Christ resides if we have been born again)
  • into the inner chamber of our beings, our hearts (souls), which is our minds, emotions, and wills – the psychological dimension (where the Spirit of Christ lives when we experience him in our quiet-time worship per John 15:4-5 and Romans 8:11). 
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (quiet-time worship to receive the Living Water/Life of Christ). He who believes in me (drinks per above), as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of Living Water.’” – John 7:37b-38

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G29

Week 30

Five Expressions of Our Experience of Christ

There are Five Qualities that can only come from your experience of Christ living his Life in your heart/soul (not the same as his residence by the Holy Spirit in your spirit):

1) Wisdom

Christ living his Life in your heart/soul enables you to identify not only his calling/purpose for your life but also wise choices for you day.

2) AgapeLove (to value as God values)

The Spirit of Christ living in your heart/soul enables you to value God’s provisions, your health, and the well-being of others, beginning with your family. This is the reason you can enjoy your spouse or children (human love) and be motivated to protect/provide for them (because of your enjoyment need for them) but still not value them unconditionally as Christ does – that is, your relationship to them is based, not on what they do for you, but on what God is calling you to do for them. 

3) Peace and Joy

In the same way water, food, oxygen, and sunshine are faithful to produce in you a cause and effect outcome, joy and peace are the certain outcomes of your experience of Christ living in your heart/soul. When this need is missed, pacifiers and fun activities cannot make up the difference.

4) Competence

The Gifts every Christian has (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 12:4-6) which equip us for living out God’s calling for our lives, and without which our service to others (as parents, husbands, pastors, etc.) would not be effectual (produce eternal results), are essentially Christ’s Life within us.

Again, one of the ways Christ’s Life is manifest in us is as Gifts for Ministry by which we are made competent for living out God’s calling for our lives (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

5) Faith and Hope

The Seed of our faith and hope is Christ, the Logos/LifeSeed (John 1:1-4; Hebrews 11:1).

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G25

Our Values: Where They Come From

Our values, beliefs, and philosophy have a source: They must come from somewhere.

  • Church
  • Parents
  • Mentors
  • Friends
  • School/College/University/Seminary
  • Entertainment tv/movies/books/magazines/internet
  • Demonic influence/Angel of Light 
Or, they can come from Christ (his Life and Mind renewed in your heart/soul daily during your quiet-time worship) - the same, for example, as your physical health comes from the nutrition you give it.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G22

 Week 29

In Old Testament times (under the old covenant) and also during the transition period between the Old and New Testaments (recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts), God related to his people in a power position over them as a King. He performed many miracles during those times in the sense the word “miracle” is usually understood – that is, he often worked to accomplish his purpose in ways that were contrary to the laws of nature.

However, I do not believe it is how God normatively works in this New Testament Church Age or Age of Grace under the new covenant - during which Christ relates to us

  • organically in a support position beneath us 
“I am the Vine; you are the branches.” - John 15:1-8

  • within us 
“…according to his power that is at work within us.” - Ephesians 3:20

“Christ IN you, your hope of glory (health, holiness, and Heaven) – Colossians 1:25-27

  • relationally as a husband, shepherd, servant, gardener, and fountainhead. 
“When that which is perfect has come (provisions of the new covenant), the imperfect (the old covenant) is done away with.” - 1 Corinthians 13:10

 It is in this context we understand better John 8:36: “If Christ sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

 DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G18

 Personal Health, Not Your Marriage: God’s Surpassing Plan for Your Life

The Bible word for “believe/trust” (pisteuo) has a more intense meaning than how the word is used and understood in English.

In the Bible sense, it cannot be said we believe or trust God just by thinking positive about him or what he says (with the hope he will be impressed with us and maybe give us a miracle), but only by “living like what we believe is true.”

For example, in the Bible sense, it cannot be said we believe a boat is seaworthy until we get on it or that a chair is safe until we sit on it. 

Or, that water is God's provision to heal our thirst, until we drink it.

So, while it is true that we are healed because we believe/trust God for our healing, it is only in the sense we RECEIVE his provisions which make our healing possible (Romans 5:17). 

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G15

Week 28

Spanking: Pounding on Behavior Made Unnecessary by Discipline

1) Spanking children in order to control/motivate behavior

  • is a poor substitute for discipline (training/teaching/ investment with a view of increase),
  • perpetuates violence (When a child kicks and slaps others, it is usually because he/she has been hit.), and
  • produces in them fear-based, performance-based behavior which will result in confusion and pain (because their behavior will never be good enough). 
2) If there is a time when spanking is helpful, it is a rare occasion, and then only appropriate if the parent is filled with the love of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7) so that

  • the parent is relationship-oriented, values the child as Christ does, is not rude, angry, or impatient,
  • the spanking is administered with a broken heart after other patient attempts have failed to help teach the child about the outcomes of wrong choices, and
  • the spanking is not an attempt to pound on or punish a behavior that angers/aggravates the parent. 
3) Laws to protect children from spanking would not be necessary if every parent was renewed each day by the heart of Christ so that children never experienced a legalistic beating at the hand of rules-oriented parents.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G11

Wise Choices: How Good Things Happen

There are some matters over which we do not have much control. We do not have enough power to control world and national economies, wars and conflicts, weather, wildlife, traffic, trends, and the behavior of people, including friends and neighbors and even family. So we surrender those matters to God’s control and ourselves to his care.

But, generally, we do have ability to control

  • Where we live, go to school, work, attend church, and shop,
  • Who we marry, associate with, connect to, invest in, and vote for, 
  • What we eat, say, buy, think, and study, and
  • The when, why, and how with respect to the where, who, and what. 
So God calls and enables us to make wise choices with the confidence they will result in a good outcome according to the law of cause and effect (sowing and reaping) which he ordained to govern outcomes.
______________________________________________

Note: Good outcomes are not the result of our "lucky stars" or even prayer (as it is commonly understood – that is, “to ask or plead with God to meet our needs or to change the outcome of our poor choices”).

Note: Satan, the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) has power

  • working through various instruments, including people and even organizations AND
  • to whatever measure God permits it 
to produce outcomes – even the ones we ask God for (for example, for prominence or possessions).  

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G08

 Week 27

 God’s Work To Make Us Holy: Celebrating Freedom from Impurity

Impure thoughts and vulgar/profane language come out of an impure heart.

“Can salt water come from a fresh water fountain?” -  James 3:11

But God has a solution for impurity. It is not to impose religious rules, or to shame impure behavior, or for us to work on ourselves to improve; rather, it is for him to transform our hearts during our quiet time worship. The more we are filled with Christ, the more our hearts (minds) are transformed (sanctified/ made pure) so that we increasingly both desire and manifest purity – including in our speech. It is a divine promise and principle.

It is in this way also that our bodies and homes/living spaces are made pure. That’s why we can expect Heaven to be clean. Detailed clean.

DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G04

Support During Adversity Assured by God’s Love and Care

Fifty or so years ago, geologist were certain they were very near to learning how to predict earthquakes timely enough so that populated areas at risk could be evacuated. Today, however, after many years of ongoing research, they have concluded we will probably never be able to forecast the timing of an earthquake. So now, the research has changed from a focus on geology to a focus on architecture – to discovering ways for building structures that can survive an earthquake.

Well, of course, Christ assured us over 2000 years ago that the home / life / business / relationship built on him – that is, according to his redemptive plan – would be like a house built on a rock that would not fall when adversity comes.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine (concerning my provisions) and does them (includes them in their lives) will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” - Matthew 7:24-25. 

That’s why we

  • make good choices every day to include God’s provisions in our lives which establish us in health,
  • remove from our lives those things that do not support health (are not redemptive), and then
  • live/rest each day in confidence that God’s love and his provisions are faithful. 
DonLoy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 14G01

©GracePoint, AGRC. All Rights Reserved